Using available reading matter around my home I have established:The Journalist (NUJ magazine) uses colonWhat's Brewing (CAMRA paper) uses colonPrivate Eye uses colonLocal footie club programme uses colonMiddlemarch (gah! I'm ploughing through reading it!) - not much introduction of speech this way but she uses either a dash or a comma. One instance also of a colon.

Not sure where this gets us. No proper daily papers here but I know the local paper uses a colon because I worked there for years.

Why do you all say comma when all these people use a colon. What's going on????

Checked with OH, both are correct, the comma is the older style which is why the news publications you are using to check are using the colon.He also went off muttering about OUP house style, American preferences and the difference between quoting a sentence rather than a phrase but my crumpets were getting cold so I didn't listen to that bit.

Is this the difference between using quotations in journalism and in normal narrative prose? Printed novels use the comma.

I have taught higher ability pupils they can use a colon to introduce speech in newspaper article-type writing (no need to confuse the others!).

I'd agree with the use of speech marks shown above too. When there is more than one paragraph in direct speech then you don't close them at the end of paragraph 1, but you re-open at the beginning of each subsequent paragraph and only close at the end of the whole speech.

Both are acceptable. In fiction (my field) the colon denotes a more forceful statement.She said, 'I'm going to bed.' (She's just going to bed.)She said: 'I'm going to bed.' (She's not just going to bed, she's making a point of letting people know it, maybe because there's a subtext.)The colon subtly attaches more force or more importance to the statement than a comma would. Rhythmically, the colon has a longer breath pause, equivalent to the full stop, so the colon creates more suspense prior to the speech. The comma simply shifts gear from narrator's voice to speaker's.